"large areas of Eurasia, inhabiting much of Europe including Lebanon, northern Iran, and the Caucasus. They are the only commonly found accentor in lowland areas, all the others inhabit upland areas Dunnocks were successfully introduced into New Zealand during the 19th century, and are now widely distributed around the country and some offshore islands. Favourite habitats include woodlands, shrubs, gardens, and hedgerows where they typically feed on the ground often seeking out detritivores as food. The main call of the dunnock is a shrill, persistent ""tseep"" along with a high trilling note, which betrays the bird's otherwise inconspicuous presence. The"
"the eastern parts of its range. The nest is a well-concealed shallow open cup on the ground under vegetation. These birds migrate to the southern United States, Mexico, and northern Central America; they are passage migrants over much of the United States, except in the west. They forage on the ground in dense vegetation, mainly eating insects and seeds. They are very secretive. Their song is a musical trill, but this bird is often not seen or heard even where they are common. This bird was named by Audubon after his friend, Thomas Lincoln, of Dennysville, Maine. Lincoln shot the"
"name ""tinnunculus"" is Latin for ""kestrel"" from ""tinnulus"", ""shrill"". Common kestrel The common kestrel (""Falco tinnunculus"") is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In Britain, where no other kestrel species occurs, it is generally just called ""the kestrel"". This species occurs over a large range. It is widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as occasionally reaching the east coast of North America. It has colonized a few oceanic islands, but vagrant individuals are generally rare;"
"flocks. The dunnock is an exception since it prefers to be solitary except when feeding. The dunnock also earned a nickname of ""shuffle-wing"" since it most strongly displays the characteristic wing flicks used during courtship and other displays. Accentors may have two to three broods a year. Courtship consists of a great deal of song from the males, which may include short lark-like song flights to attract a mate. In most species, the male and female share in the nest making, with the dunnocks again being an exception – their males have no part in nest building or incubation. They"
"""Braunelle"", ""dunnock"", a diminutive of ""braun"", ""brown"". Accentor The accentors are a genus of birds in the family Prunellidae, which is the only bird family endemic to the Palearctic. This small group of closely related passerines are all in the genus ""Prunella"". All but the dunnock and the Japanese accentor are inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia; these two also occur in lowland areas, as does the Siberian accentor in the far north of Siberia. These birds are not strongly migratory, but they will leave the coldest parts of their range in winter and make altitudinal movements."
"and apparently stable population. It is therefore evaluated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), although, as a northern breeding species, it may be affected by climate change in the long term. October and November 2016 saw an unprecedented influx of this species into western Europe, reaching as far as the United Kingdom. The accentors are a family of small ground-living insectivorous birds, most of which are found in mountainous habitats in Eurasia, although the dunnock is a lowland species. Their relationships with other bird families are uncertain. All accentors are placed"
"Mourning dove The mourning dove (""Zenaida macroura"") is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove or the rain dove, and erroneously as the turtle dove, and was once known as the Carolina pigeon or Carolina turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds. It is also a leading gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and for meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure is"
"song is rapid, thin and tinkling, a sweet warble which can be confused with that of the Eurasian wren, but is shorter and weaker. Dunnocks are territorial and may engage in conflict with other birds that encroach upon their nests. Males sometimes share a territory and exhibit a strict dominance hierarchy. Nevertheless, this social dominance is not translated into benefits to the alpha male in terms of reproduction, since parternity is usually equally shared between males of the group. Furthermore, members of a group are rarely related, and so competition can result. Female territorial ranges are almost always exclusive. However,"
"Great horned owl The great horned owl (""Bubo virginianus""), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the ""winged tiger"" or ""tiger of the air"") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its primary diet is rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles, although it freely hunts any animal it can overtake, including rodents and other small mammals, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. In ornithological"
"the cuckoo, but became so good at recognising the intruder's eggs that it ceased to be victimised. A contrast to this is the dunnock, which appears to be a recent cuckoo host, since it does not show any egg discrimination. A study conducted at two different locations in southern England found that one third of nests were predated. The Eurasian jay (""Garrulus glandarius"") was the most common aerial predator, consuming both eggs and chicks. The domestic cat (""Felis catus"") predated a small fraction of the nests. Spotted flycatcher The spotted flycatcher (""Muscicapa striata"") is a small passerine bird in the"
"Dunn's lark Dunn's lark (""Eremalauda dunni"") is a small passerine bird of the lark family. It is a desert bird which is found across parts of the Sahara and Arabia. Dunn's lark was originally described as belonging to the genus ""Calendula"" and has also been classified by some authorities as belonging to the genus ""Ammomanes"". Stark's lark was formerly also classified in the genus ""Eremalauda""; it has since been moved to ""Spizocorys"", leaving Dunn's lark as the only species in the genus ""Eremalauda"". Two subspecies are recognized: The latter taxon is recognised as a separate species, the Arabian lark (""E."
"of Gould's rare ornithological mistakes. He had already named the eastern race of the same bird, calling it the 'unadorned thickhead', perhaps giving some indication of what he thought of the bird. By convention, the first name stands, so today the scientific name is ""Pachycephalia inornata"". But while technically speaking, the name Gilbert's whistler refers just to the western race of the bird, the name is used universally today for the species. Gould also honoured Gilbert when naming two animals that Gilbert had collected for him from the dense heath in the south-west of Western Australia, Gilbert's dunnart and Gilbert's"
"Dunlin The dunlin (""Calidris alpina"") is a small wader, sometimes separated with the other ""stints"" in ""Erolia"". The English name is a dialect form of ""dunling"", first recorded in 1531–2. It derives from ""dun"", ""dull brown "", with the ""-ling"" suffix meaning ""concerned with"". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ""kalidris"" or ""skalidris"", a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ""alpina "" is from Latin and means ""of high mountains"", in this case referring to the Alps. It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions. Birds that breed in northern Europe and"
"Dunlin The dunlin (""Calidris alpina"") is a small wader, sometimes separated with the other ""stints"" in ""Erolia"". The English name is a dialect form of ""dunling"", first recorded in 1531–2. It derives from ""dun"", ""dull brown "", with the ""-ling"" suffix meaning ""concerned with"". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ""kalidris"" or ""skalidris"", a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ""alpina "" is from Latin and means ""of high mountains"", in this case referring to the Alps. It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions. Birds that breed in northern Europe and"
"Australian shelduck The Australian shelduck (""Tadorna tadornoides""), also known as the chestnut-breasted shelduck or mountain duck, is a shelduck part of the bird family Anatidae. The genus name ""Tadorna"" comes from Celtic roots and means ""pied waterfowl"". They are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974. Kukabrak (Ngarrindjeri) Yaraldi clan Mulbarapa would have known the Australian shelduck as their ngatji (totem) ""Nongkalalwori"" for millennia. William Jardine and Prideaux John Selby described the Australian shelduck in 1828. The males are mostly dark, with a chestnut breast. They have white neck collars and dark green heads. The females are similar,"
"their bills. They typically feed in flocks outside the breeding season, moving nomadically in response to rainfall. Dunn's lark Dunn's lark (""Eremalauda dunni"") is a small passerine bird of the lark family. It is a desert bird which is found across parts of the Sahara and Arabia. Dunn's lark was originally described as belonging to the genus ""Calendula"" and has also been classified by some authorities as belonging to the genus ""Ammomanes"". Stark's lark was formerly also classified in the genus ""Eremalauda""; it has since been moved to ""Spizocorys"", leaving Dunn's lark as the only species in the genus ""Eremalauda""."
"Common kestrel The common kestrel (""Falco tinnunculus"") is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In Britain, where no other kestrel species occurs, it is generally just called ""the kestrel"". This species occurs over a large range. It is widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as occasionally reaching the east coast of North America. It has colonized a few oceanic islands, but vagrant individuals are generally rare; in the whole of Micronesia for example, the species"
"Peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (""Falco peregrinus""), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underparts, and a black head. As is typical of bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males. The peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a ""National Geographic"" TV programme, the highest"
"three are likely to play a role. In dunnocks, two or three males may share one or more females in a polyandrous or polygynandrous mating system. This leads to the males' ranges to overlap so they would cooperate in order to defend the territory. Among the males is a dominance hierarchy: older birds tend to be the alpha male and first year birds are usually the beta males. Studies have not found cases of close male relatives being involved in any mating combinations. Dominance hierarchies can also be observed in many fish. For example, in the dragonet, males form hierarchies"
"the beak is the snood, and the one attached to the underside of the beak is known as a wattle. The English language name for this species results from an early misidentification of the bird with an unrelated species which was imported to Europe through the country of Turkey. The Latin species name means ""chicken peacock"". The modern domestic turkey is descended from one of six subspecies of wild turkey: ""Meleagris gallopavo"", found in the area bounded by the present Mexican states of Jalisco, Guerrero, and Veracruz Ancient Mesoamericans domesticated this subspecies, using its meat and eggs as major sources"
"became commonly known as coachwhip bird or stockwhip bird. John Gould recorded the aboriginal term ""Djou"" from the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Its specific name is derived from its olive colouration, though was soon placed in the new genus ""Psophodes"" by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield, derived from the Greek ""psophōdes""/ψοφωδης meaning 'noisy'. The family placement has changed, some now placing it in a large broadly defined inclusive Corvidae, while others split it and several other genera into the quail-thrush family Cinclosomatidae. Other research proposes that the quail-thrushes are themselves distinctive, leaving the whipbirds and wedgebills in"
"owl family Tytonidae. The name literally means ""white owl"", from the onomatopoeic Ancient Greek ""tyto"" (τυτώ) for an owl – compare English ""hooter"" – and Latin ""alba"", ""white"". The bird is known by many common names which refer to its appearance, call, habitat, or its eerie, silent flight: white owl, silver owl, demon owl, ghost owl, death owl, night owl, rat owl, church owl, cave owl, stone owl, monkey-faced owl, hissing owl, hobgoblin or hobby owl, dobby owl, white-breasted owl, golden owl, scritch owl, screech owl, straw owl, barnyard owl, and delicate owl. ""Golden owl"" might also refer to the"
"Common cuckoo The common cuckoo (""Cuculus canorus"") is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, ""Cuculiformes"", which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. It is a brood parasite, which means it lays eggs in the nests of other bird species, particularly of dunnocks, meadow pipits, and reed warblers. Although its eggs are larger than those of its hosts, the eggs in each type of host nest resemble the host's eggs. The adult too is a mimic, in its case of the sparrowhawk;"
"first appeared in the 16th century, and is thought to be a compound of the forename ""Jack"", used in animal names to signify a small form (e.g. jack snipe), and the archaic native English word ""daw"". Formerly, western jackdaws were simply called ""daws"". The metallic ""chyak"" call may be the origin of the ""jack"" part of the common name, but this is not supported by the ""Oxford English Dictionary"". ""Daw"", first used for the bird in the 15th century, is held by the ""Oxford English Dictionary"" to be derived from the postulated Old English ""dawe"", citing the cognates in Old"
"Ciconiiformes (white stork, black stork, bittern, little bittern, little egret, grey heron, purple heron, night heron), birds of prey (widespread osprey, white-tailed eagle, golden eagle, short-toed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, buzzards, northern goshawk, sparrowhawk, red kite, black kite, marsh harrier, hen harrier, peregrine falcon, common kestrel and Eurasian hobby, merlin; lesser kestrel, imperial eagle, booted eagle and vultures in southern Europe). The owls include tawny owl, eagle owl, barn owl, little owl, short-eared owl, long-eared owl. The more common European woodpeckers are great spotted woodpecker, middle spotted woodpecker, grey-headed woodpecker, European green woodpecker and black woodpecker. Some typical European shorebirds"
"as adults. A study of vocalization noted that the duetting behaviour may indicate the possibility of short-term pair-bonding in its otherwise polygynous mating system. Pacific koel The Pacific koel (""Eudynamys orientalis""), also known as the eastern koel, is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family. In Australia, it is colloquially known as the ""rainbird"" or ""stormbird"", as its call is usually more prevalent before or during stormy weather. It has often been considered conspecific with the Asian and black-billed koels, but they are increasingly treated as a separate species. Alternatively, the population breeding in Australia has been considered a"
"Common bottlenose dolphin The common bottlenose dolphin (""Tursiops truncatus""), or Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, is the most well-known species from the family Delphinidae. Common bottlenose dolphins are the most familiar dolphins due to the wide exposure they receive in captivity in marine parks and dolphinaria, and in movies and television programs. The common bottlenose dolphin is the largest species of the beaked dolphins. They inhabit temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world, and are absent only from polar waters. Until recently, all bottlenose dolphins were considered as a single species, but now the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin and Burrunan dolphin have been"
"bird as ""Ardea dubia"" in 1789 while Latham later used the name ""Ardea argala"" for the Indian bird. Temminck used the name ""Ciconia marabou"" in 1824 based on the local name used in Senegal for the African bird and this was also applied to the Indian species. This led to considerable confusion between the African and Indian species. The marabou stork of Africa looks somewhat similar but their disjunct distribution ranges, differences in bill structure, plumage, and display behaviour support their treatment as separate species. Most storks fly with their neck outstretched, but the three ""Leptoptilos"" species retract their neck"
"of the Central Australian Museum, believe that ""Bullockornis"" was related to geese and ducks. This, in addition to the bird's tremendous size and outdated carnivorous habits, gave rise to its colourful nickname. It may be somewhat inaccurate, however, as other studies have recovered dromornithids as more closely related to Galliformes. The bird's generic name is improperly translated as ""ox-bird"", and was named instead for the type locality for the genus at Bullock Creek, Australia. Bullockornis Bullockornis planei, nicknamed the ""Demon-Duck of Doom"" or ""Thunderduck"", is an extinct flightless bird that lived in the Middle Miocene, approximately 15 million years ago,"
"from consumption of red meat to white meat. Common pheasant The common pheasant (""Phasianus colchicus"") is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin ""phasianus"", ""pheasant"". The species name ""colchicus"" is Latin for ""of Colchis"" (modern day Georgia), a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. It is native to Asia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe, where it is naturalised, it is simply known as the ""pheasant"". Ring-necked"
"Objects; Drawn and Described Immediately From Nature"". He called it ""Psittacus zonarius"" ""zoned parrot"". A broad-tailed parrot, it is most closely related to the rosellas of the genus ""Platycercus"", and has been placed in that genus by some authorities, including Ferdinand Bauer. Pre-existing names for the species, derived from the Nyungar language of Southwest Australia, are ""dowarn"" [pronounced dow’awn] and ""doomolok"" [dorm’awe’lawk]; these were identified from over one hundred records of regional and orthographic variants to supplement the names already suggested by John Gilbert, Dominic Serventy and others. Currently, four subspecies of ringneck are recognised, all of which have been"
"species as a whole in North America and also the collective name for a number of subspecies and their intergrades that have white neck rings. It is a well-known gamebird, among those of more than regional importance perhaps the most widespread and ancient one in the whole world. The common pheasant is one of the world's most hunted birds; it has been introduced for that purpose to many regions, and is also common on game farms where it is commercially bred. Ring-necked pheasants in particular are commonly bred and were introduced to many parts of the world; the game farm"
"experts are calling for the Australian government to develop a “high-priority contingency plan” that includes stronger environmental quarantine and surveillance strategies. Duttaphrynus melanostictus Duttaphrynus melanostictus is commonly called Asian common toad, Asian black-spined toad, Asian toad, black-spectacled toad, common Sunda toad, and Javanese toad. It is probably a complex of more than one true toad species that is widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia. The species grows to about long. Asian common toads breed during the monsoon, and their tadpoles are black. Young toads may be seen in large numbers after monsoon rains finish. The top of the head"